El pájaro quiere volar sobre el valle.

The bird wants to fly over the valley.

Breakdown of El pájaro quiere volar sobre el valle.

• querer: to want
• sobre: over
• el valle: the valley
• volar: to fly
• el pájaro: the bird

Questions & Answers about El pájaro quiere volar sobre el valle.

Why does the sentence use El pájaro instead of just Pájaro or Un pájaro?

Spanish normally needs an article (like el, la, un, una) before a singular countable noun, where English can often drop it.

• El pájaro = the bird (a specific bird, or birds as a general class)
• Un pájaro = a bird (some bird, not specific)
• Bare pájaro (with no article) is usually wrong in this kind of sentence.

So El pájaro quiere volar... is closer to The bird wants to fly..., not just Bird wants to fly...

Why is it El pájaro and not La pájaro? Is pájaro always masculine?

Yes, pájaro is grammatically masculine, so it takes el:

• el pájaro = the bird (masc.)
• plural: los pájaros

There is a feminine form la pájara, but it’s much less common and can sound colloquial or even have slang meanings depending on the region. For “bird” in a neutral sense, Spanish almost always uses the masculine el pájaro.

Why does pájaro have an accent mark?

Pájaro is stressed on the first syllable: PA-ja-ro.

According to Spanish stress rules:

• Words ending in vowel, -n, -s are normally stressed on the second-to-last syllable.
• Since pajaro (pa-JA-ro) would naturally be stressed on JA, but the correct stress is on PA, Spanish writes an accent: pájaro.

So the accent mark tells you the stress is PA-ja-ro, not pa-JA-ro.

How is pájaro pronounced in Latin American Spanish?

Approximate pronunciation: PAH-ha-roh.

• pá – like “pa” in pasta, stressed
• ja – j is a harsh h sound, like the ch in German Bach or Scottish loch
• ro – a tapped/flapped r (like the American English “tt” in better for many speakers)

So: [ˈpa.xa.ɾo] in IPA.

Why is it quiere volar and not something like quiere a volar?

In Spanish, when one verb is followed by another, the second verb usually stays in the infinitive (the “to _” form), and no extra preposition is used with verbs like querer:

• quiere volar = wants to fly
• quiero comer = I want to eat
• queremos salir = we want to go out

You do not say quiere a volar. The a is unnecessary and incorrect in this structure.

What’s the difference between quiere volar and quiere que vuele?

• quiere volar = [the bird] wants to fly (the subject itself wants to do the action)
• quiere que vuele = [someone] wants [someone/something] to fly (two different subjects)

Examples:

• El pájaro quiere volar. – The bird itself wants to fly.
• El niño quiere que el pájaro vuele. – The child wants the bird to fly.

Note: quiere que vuele requires the subjunctive (vuele).

Why is it quiere and not quiera?

Quiere is indicative (present tense, normal factual statement):

• Él quiere volar. – He wants to fly.

Quiera is subjunctive, used mostly after other verbs or expressions, often with que:

• Espero que él quiera volar. – I hope he wants to fly.

In El pájaro quiere volar, we’re just stating a fact (“the bird wants”), so we use the indicative: quiere.

What does querer really mean here: “want,” “love,” or “like”?

Querer can mean:

• to want (things, actions):
  
  • El pájaro quiere volar. – The bird wants to fly.
• to love (people, sometimes animals):
  
  • Te quiero. – I love you.
• sometimes to like in casual speech (especially in some regions), but gustar is more standard for “like”.

In this sentence, it clearly means wants: The bird wants to fly.

Why is el (no accent) used in el pájaro and el valle, and not él with an accent?

• el (no accent) = the (masculine singular article)

  • el pájaro, el valle

• él (with accent) = he (subject pronoun)

  • Él quiere volar. – He wants to fly.

In El pájaro quiere volar sobre el valle, el is always the article “the”, so it takes no accent.

Why do we say sobre el valle instead of just sobre valle?

Like with pájaro, a singular countable noun usually needs an article:

• el valle = the valley
• un valle = a valley

Bare valle without an article is unusual here. So:

• sobre el valle = over the valley
• Not: sobre valle (incorrect in this context)

What are the main meanings of sobre in this sentence? Could we use encima de or arriba de instead?

Here, sobre means over / above / on top of in a spatial sense:

• volar sobre el valle = to fly over the valley

Alternatives:

• volar encima del valle – also understandable, more literally above/on top of the valley.
• volar arriba del valle – heard in some regions, but sobre and encima de are more standard.

Differences:

• sobre is short, very common, and can also mean about / on (a topic) in other contexts.
• encima de is more explicitly “on top of / above” and a bit more physical/visual.

In this sentence, sobre el valle is the most natural, neutral choice.

Could sobre here mean “about,” like “about the valley”?

No. In this sentence, context and the verb volar (“to fly”) make it clearly spatial:

• volar sobre el valle = to fly over the valley

Sobre can mean about / on (a topic) with other verbs:

• un libro sobre historia – a book about history
• hablar sobre el valle – to talk about the valley

But with volar, it’s naturally interpreted as over/above.

What’s the difference between volar sobre el valle and volar por el valle?

• volar sobre el valle = fly over/above the valley (in the air, above it).
• volar por el valle = fly through / around / in the valley (moving inside the valley area).

So sobre emphasizes being over the valley; por suggests movement within or through that space.

Could I say El pájaro quiere sobrevolar el valle instead? Is that the same?

Yes, but the nuance is slightly different:

• volar sobre el valle = to fly over the valley (describing the position while flying).
• sobrevolar el valle = literally to fly over the valley (a single verb; more “technical” or formal-sounding).

Meaning is very close; sobrevolar is a bit more specific and often used in news, documentaries, etc.
The original sentence with volar sobre is simpler and more basic-learner-friendly.

Why isn’t there an a before el valle? Don’t we sometimes use a for direct objects?

Spanish uses the “personal a” before direct objects that are people or personified beings:

• Veo a María. – I see María.
• Quiero a mi perro. – I love my dog. (treated like a person)

But valle is an inanimate thing, and here it’s an object of a preposition (sobre), not a direct object. So we just say:

• sobre el valle – over the valley
• No a is needed or allowed here.

Can the word order change, like Quiere el pájaro volar sobre el valle?

Normal, most natural order:

• El pájaro quiere volar sobre el valle.

You can say Quiere el pájaro volar sobre el valle in very literary or poetic style, but in everyday modern Spanish it sounds unusual.

Spanish allows some flexibility, but for learners the safest is:

• [Subject] + [conjugated verb] + [other elements]
  → El pájaro quiere volar sobre el valle.

In conversation, could we drop El pájaro and just say Quiere volar sobre el valle?

Yes, if the subject is already clear from context. Spanish often drops subject pronouns (yo, tú, etc.), and it can also drop explicit nouns when they’re understood:

• If you were already talking about the bird, you could say:
  
  • Quiere volar sobre el valle. – (It) wants to fly over the valley.

But if there is any risk of confusion, it’s better to keep El pájaro.

How would the sentence change if we talk about several birds or several valleys?

• Several birds, one valley:

  • Los pájaros quieren volar sobre el valle.
  • The birds want to fly over the valley.

• One bird, several valleys:

  • El pájaro quiere volar sobre los valles.
  • The bird wants to fly over the valleys.

• Several birds, several valleys:

  • Los pájaros quieren volar sobre los valles.

Note the plural forms: los pájaros, los valles, quieren (plural verb form).